Sweet, Sweet Potato Soup

After I made some delicious sweet potato-tuna cakes with my buddy Sam, I had a few of the gorgeous orange beauties left that I was not sure what to do with. Mash them? Too boring! Fry them? Too messy! And then I remembered this recipe, spotted on Post Punk Kitchen a few weeks back. Full of ingredients I love, easy, elegant and exotic all at once... It was too tempting to pass up!

Quebec weather being what it is, we had to endure a disgusting mid-April snow storm, and I suddenly wanted a warm, comforting soup to help me recover from yet another spring false-start (last time that happened, I also made soup... I guess my maniacal soup making is a seasonal affective disorder symptom!). Since this one is spicy, sweet and bright orange, it was a lovely bowl of sunshine as we waited for Mother Nature to finally make up her mind and let us shed our winter coats for good!

From Post Punk Kitchen, adapted by me!

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced medium
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks

4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/2 lime, juiced

Preheat a 4-quart soup pot over medium heat. Sauté the onions in oil with a pinch of salt for about 3 minutes, until translucent.

Add ginger and red pepper flakes, and sauté another minute or so.

Add sweet potatoes, veggie broth and salt and pepper.

Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat a bit to a slow simmer and cook until potatoes are tender – usually 5 more minutes or so. Once tender, add the vanilla beans. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth. Add maple syrup and lime juice and taste for salt. Add a bit of water if the soup is too thick, put back on the stove until reheated through, and serve.

Now how simple was that? And how delicious! The sweet potatoes give this soup a thick, creamy texture that is absolutely luxurious. It's so smooth and silky! I garnished it with a wedge of lime, a pinch of chili flakes and a light sprinkle of coconut flakes. Only add chili flakes if you can handle the spicy kick!

I know it seems a bit counter-instinctual to pair sweet potatoes and vanilla and maple syrup, but do not fret! The ginger and chili flakes balance out the sweet ingredients very nicely! The smell is also absolutely amazing. Spicy, sweet and comforting.

OK, I confess: I cheated and used vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean. I had no time to run to a fancy enough grocery store to get the goods, and I had very good vanilla extract (the proportion is 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract for 1 vanilla bean). If you are going to be naughty like me, please, at least, get high quality, natural vanilla extract and not crappy, overly sweet artificial vanilla essence.

Despite the sweetness, this is a very healthy soup, very low in fat, and it packs a mean punch of vitamins and anti-oxidants! The texture will make it seem like a treat, but you can slurp back an extra ladle without feeling guilty.

Bloody Hell!

I have a big soft spot for Halloween (and British curses... actually, make that British slang, period)! The cheesy B-movies, the psychobilly music, hours spent preparing kinky costumes for a late-night "Rocky Horror Picture Show", universal permission to binge on sweets...

Any excuse to bake cupcakes is a good excuse for me, so I volunteered to bring a batch to my office's Halloween lunch, but I wanted something a bit more out-of-the-box than the traditional pumpkin cupcakes (I find pumpkins very cute, but not especially tasty). So when Marilla of Cupcake Rehab posted these, the "Dexter" fan in me could not resist whipping them up!

I wanted the blood stains to really pop out, so I opted for one of my favorite combos: vanilla cupcakes and cream cheese icing (although I did seriously consider red velvets).

Vanilla cupcakes (24):

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
5 egg whites
2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat 2 minutes longer. Add egg whites, one at the time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, alternatively add flour mixture, about 1/3 of mixture at the time, and milk, about 1/2 at a time, beating until just blended. Divide batter in the lined baking cups, filling them about 2/3 of the way. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Wait until completely cooled to frost.

Cream cheese frosting (yes, I know, I have an addiction...):

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
1 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Using the whisk attachment, whip the butter and cream cheese on high speed for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl down as necessary. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar until all is incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Increase the speed to medium high and whip for a few minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as necessary.

And the finishing murderous touch is some gel food coloring, diluted in warm water until it has the perfect bloody, gooey consistency; you then dip the wider end of a chop stick in, and go Jackson Pollock on the cupcakes! Beware: concentrated food coloring stains, so cover your work surface in garbage bags and wear gloves if you want to avoid the unpleasant experience of cleaning up a crime scene (or going all Lady Macbeth... unless that's your costume!).

A big thank you to Cupcake Rehab, for the coolest Halloween cupcake idea EVER! You rock! These were a blast to make, and were a huge success with the Halloween lunch crowd!

B-Cup... Cakes

I have reached the age where suddenly, people that I have known a long time start getting married and having babies. On a pretty massive scale. Sometimes, it makes me feel like I may have taken a wrong turn somewhere, but then I usually shrug and get back to thinking of more important things (like coming up with new tattoo ideas, wondering whether or not I'll get fired if I show up to work with my hair a brighter shade of purple, figuring out what my boyfriend would like to eat for dinner: vital stuff).

I am neither pro-marriage nor pro-kids, but I am pro-happiness, so whatever my friends do, as long as it makes them happy, it's a-OK by me.

My friend JD (who took that awesome pic of me with the meat cleaver: see top of the page) is one of those people getting married and making me feel old. And while I am obviously not attending the bachelor party (seriously, knowing him, I don't want to know how the Hell that evening will go down...), his sister asked me to contribute to the evening by preparing a dessert in the shape of what JD loves most in the world...

These are revamped vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese icing, tinted pink with Wilton pink gel food coloring, and topped with mini-Swedish berry candies. It was rather odd having two dozens tiny boobs all over my kitchen counter, but these were great fun to make!

Wishing you all the happiness in the world, JD! I hope you enjoyed the boob cakes! xx

P.S. JD, you still owe me a Key Lime pie! Don't think getting married means you are off the hook!

White on White Cupcakes

I recently posted a recipe for basic vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese icing. They made rich, buttery cakes, but a friend of mine tried it and found the batter very thick. While this problem can be remedied by adding little splashes of milk, I tried another vanilla cupcake recipe, with a more traditionally runny batter that's easily measured in the cupcake pan with a ice cream scoop.

Not only did those new cupcakes turn out to be delicious, they also turned out to be my favorite vanilla cupcakes of all the recipes I have tried so far! The vanilla flavor is quite present, but not overpowering and the crumb is light and moist. Just heavenly!

White cupcakes according to Betty Crocker's "Big Books of Cupcakes" (for 24 cupcakes):

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
5 egg whites
2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat 2 minutes longer. Add egg whites, one at the time,  beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, alternatively add flour mixture, about 1/3 of mixture at the time, and milk, about 1/2 at a time, beating until just blended. Divide batter in the lined baking cups, filling them about 2/3 of the way. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Wait until completely cooled to frost.

They make a lighter and fluffier cake than the previous recipe, so I decided to pair them with this yummy fluffy vanilla icing, from "Martha Stewart's Cupcakes":

1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the butter on medium speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add confectioners sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. After every 2 additions, raise the speed to high and beat for 10 seconds to aerate the frosting, then return to medium. This process should take about 10 minutes. The frosting will be very pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, and beat until the frosting is smooth.

Of all the vanilla icings I have tried, this one is my undisputed favorite: it's super-creamy with a great buttery taste. But most importantly, it's not too sweet. The biggest problem I've had with vanilla icings is that the taste of sugar tends to completely take over, but this icing seems to have the perfect butter/sugar proportion. The rich, silky texture is also to die for. As you can see, it pipes nicely into lovely little swirls.

I brought those in lieu of birthday cake for my little brother's 22nd birthday lunch and got raves! Probably because as basic as a vanilla cupcake with vanilla icing may sound, it definitely has this nostalgic quality to it that makes it ideal for birthdays. There is a little taste of early birthday parties to this combination that never fails to satisfy.

Happy birthday, baby bro!

Perfectly Simple Vanilla Cupcakes

A good vanilla cupcake is the pastry equivalent of a little black dress: it's perfect for every occasion. Birthday party? Vanilla cupcakes! Baby-shower? Vanilla cupcakes! Easter lunch? Vanilla cupcakes! Girls night in? Vanilla cupcakes!

O.K., I'll admit that when PMS-ing, chocolate cupcake is more de rigueur, but for pretty much everything else, vanilla cupcakes work.

I strongly object to anyone calling vanilla cupcakes (or little black dresses) boring! When did vanilla get such a bad rep as dull and conventional? I'll take classic, creamy vanilla ice cream drizzled with a shot of limoncello or maple syrup any day over ridiculous and overly sweet flavors. Same with cupcakes: I prefer Audrey Hepburn to Lady Gaga, even in pastry-metaphors.

Classics never get old, and as Leonardo Da Vinci himself said: "Simplicity is the greatest elegance". Anyone who enjoys baking needs a basic vanilla cupcake recipe they can play with, use to test out various icing experiments, or get ready in a jiffy when unexpected reasons to pig out suddenly arise.

I sneaked this recipe off www.browneyedbaker.com, since I had such a success in February with the red velvet recipe I found on that site. I wanted a no-muss no-fuss vanilla cupcakes recipe, that I could make with stuff I already had at home (not in the mood to hunt down non-self-rising-cake flour, thank you very much, Ms. Stewart)... and I really wanted to use my new stand mixer again!!

Yes, I recently gave myself a big and shiny present, in the shape of a giant KitchenAid stand mixer. It's beautiful and so efficient that I feel completely lazy using it to bake, because I have nothing left to do besides measuring ingredients. I love it to bits and I intend to use my Easter break to try my hand at making some home-made bread!

But enough about my toy, let's get back to the cupcakes:

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick), room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 large egg , room temperature
2 large egg yolks , room temperature
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolks, and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain. Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from tin and transfer to wire rack; cool cupcakes to room temperature before frosting.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I can't get enough of cream cheese frosting, so I whipped up a batch to crown my lovely classic vanilla cakes with!

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
2½ cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Using the whisk attachment, whip the butter and cream cheese on high speed for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl down as necessary. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar until all is incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Increase the speed to medium high and whip for a few minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as necessary.

A lot of my coworkers have their birthday in early April, so I baked a double batch and got 24 innocent-looking, but devilishly delicious little white cakes! The flourishes of the icing seemed decoration enough for my little creations, so I left them plain; their moist, sweet crumb was all the ornament they needed!